The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500

“12 work-relevant characteristics of online life. These are the post-bureaucratic realities that tomorrow’s employees will use as yardsticks in determining whether your company is “with it” or “past it.” In assembling this short list, I haven’t tried to catalog every salient feature of the Web’s social milieu, only those that are most at odds with the legacy practices found in large companies.”

All ideas compete on equal footing

Contribution counts for more than credentials

Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed

Leaders serve rather than preside

Tasks are chosen, not assigned

Groups are self-defining and -organizing

Resources get attracted, not allocated

Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it

Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed

Users can veto most policy decisions

Intrinsic rewards matter most

Hackers are heroes

Hamel writes that “If your company hopes to attract the most creative and energetic members of Gen F, it will need to understand these Internet-derived expectations, and then reinvent its management practices accordingly.”